In conjunction with the story, they're giving away a signed copy
of Ann VanderMeer's new steampunk anthology Steampunk Revolution.
Enter to win!

I'm intrigued that they describe this story as steampunk. When I
was writing it I thought of it primarily as a romantic fantasy, set
in a fantasy world reminiscent of Belle Epoque Paris in which
relationships are visible as living things. The electrical gizmos
in the story, I thought, were just props. But of course all of
these elements do add up to something steampunkish, especially given
that I subtitled it "a scientific romance."

This isn't the first time I had no idea what kind of story I had
written until it was published. I thought my story "Nucleon" was
hard SF, an alternate-universe story about an atomic car. I even
sent it to Analog. But it turns out it's actually a fantasy, a
variation on the well-known "mystery shop" trope, as David Hartwell
pointed out when he bought it for Year's Best Fantasy.